Rocket ships and paper planes: ECE educators awarded for inspiring STEM methods

By EducationHQ News Team
Published August 16, 2024

Early childhood educators, teachers and services have been recognised for their fun and engaging approaches to STEM education in early learning.

Early childhood educators and teachers play a critical role in overcoming gender stereotypes and implicit gender biases that impact young girl’s participation in STEM education.

Minister for Early Childhood Education Dr Anne Aly congratulated the national and state and territory winners of the 2024 Little Scientists Awards.

“I congratulate all the outstanding winners and encourage early learning educators and teachers to continue finding fun ways to introduce children STEM subjects,” Aly said.

“This year’s theme is incredibly important – we know that by six, a girl’s interest and confidence in STEM education is already being negatively impacted by gender stereotypes and implicit gender biases.

“We want girls and women to have the same opportunities to participate, enjoy and succeed in STEM fields throughout their lives, just as their male counterparts do.”

The Little Scientists Early STEM Education Awards celebrate innovation in engaging children aged zero to seven years.

The theme of the 2024 awards, ‘overcoming gender bias in early STEM education’, recognises the critical role early childhood educators and teachers play in overcoming gender stereotypes and implicit gender biases that impact young girl’s participation in STEM education.

Bagdad Education and Care in Tasmania, received the national Excellence in Early STEM Education Award, for the project Will the ropes break under our weight? where children experimenting with ropes, physics, and motion to develop and test hypotheses around the properties of ropes and how to strengthen them.

The National Outstanding Early STEM Education Leader went to Esther Christian from Seedlings & Co Calamvale in Queensland for a wind and flight project that gave children the opportunity to make and test paper planes, explore wind with windsocks, visit the local airport and meet real pilots.

The Australian Government supports the Little Scientists Program with $6.7 million in funding, helping to empower early childhood educators and teachers to build their skills and confidence to deliver engaging STEM experiences for young children.

Further information on the Little Scientists Program is available here, and a list of this year’s award winners can be found here.